Chapter 3
Caitlin awoke to a lot of noise and hustling around her. She noticed that the hangar doors were now open and she was lying on a stretcher.
"Hawke!" she screamed as she saw paramedics getting ready to place him inside of an ambulance.
"Hawke!" she yelled. "Hawke!"
Dom rushed to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Take it easy sweetheart," he said softly. "It's all over now."
"What happened?" she asked.
"Dom was listening to everything going on inside here from Airwolf," replied Michael. "He and the police stormed the place when Hal tried to shoot you."
"How did I fall down?" asked Caitlin as she felt the lump that was beginning to form on the back of her head.
"Sorry about that," replied Michael. "One of the other men was about to shoot and I pushed you out of the way as the police came rushing in.
Caitlin lay back down and tried to recall the event. She sat back up quickly and tears ran down her face. "Oh my God," she said. "I shot Hawke!"
"Take it easy Cait," replied Michael."We don't know that for sure."
"But it's possible isn't it?" she asked. "Hawke was shot and it's my fault."
"Honey, he was shot more than once," replied Dom. "He's on his way to the hospital. We're all going. You just need to lay back and rest."
Caitlin reluctantly lay back down on the stretcher as a new set of paramedics began checking her out. Before she knew it, they had inserted an IV and she found herself in the back of an ambulance. It all seemed like a bad dream. "Was it?" she thought as a wave of dizziness overcame her. "I can't even think straight. Oh please let this be a bad dream."
When she woke up next, Caitlin realized that she was in a hospital bed. She had two IV's this time and someone had put a cool cloth on her forehead.
Dom was sitting beside her and he smiled when she turned and stared at him.
"Hawke?" she asked. "Is Hawke okay?"
"We don't know yet," replied Dom. "He's still in surgery."
"It's my fault Dom," she said sadly. "I didn't mean to shoot him. Everything was blurry and I couldn't see straight. It all happened so fast. I shouldn't have pulled the trigger."
"You did what Hawke asked you to do," said Michael who was sitting on the other side of her.
Caitlin turned to look at him. "He didn't ask me to shoot him," she said angrily. "I did this to him. I don't think I can ever forgive myself. He was trying to save me and in return I nearly kill him."
Dom stood up and sat on the side of her bed. "You need to take it easy Cait," he said softly. "You're ill and you're not thinking straight. We don't know yet if it was your bullet that hit him. We are pretty sure that he was also hit by one of the officers that stormed the place. The other could have been from Hal."
"No," she replied. "I saw him fall just before I did. I pulled the trigger and he fell. This is all my fault."
Dom and Michael both stared at each other. Michael shook his head. They knew that there was no convincing her differently at this point and they really didn't have all the facts yet.
"Once they remove the bullets," said Michael. "I'll have my people put a rush on verifying which guns they came from."
Dom removed the wet cloth and gently kissed Caitlin's forehead. "In the mean time honey, please try and get some rest so you can get well."
Caitlin took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Michael and Dom left her alone to rest and headed out to check on Hawke's status.
"She's taking this pretty badly," said Michael.
"Yeah, I pray she's wrong," replied Dom. "If it comes back that it was her bullet that hit String, she's going to fall apart."
"Chances are high that it is her bullet," replied Michael. "I believe she got off two shots and I'm pretty sure one hit Hal but who knows about the other. Hal was hit four times and some of those definitely came from the officers."
"Then maybe we won't tell her the truth," replied Dom.
"You know that won't work," said Michael. "She's too smart of a woman.
She'll see through a lie like that."
"I know," said Dom with a sigh. "I just dread what will happen if she's right."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," replied Michael. "Let's go and check on Hawke."
